Electronic data: The New communications system;

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the new communications system
by HARVEY D. BRAUN/Partner and RANDY L. ALLEN/Manager, Newark
Beginning in December, 198'!, the Uniform Communication Sys-tem-a direct computer-to-com-puter innovation—is going to elimi-nate the traditional paper chase of manual procedures. But more signifi-cantly, it is going to reduce clerical and pricing errors, speed order processing and filling, and, when fully operational, save the industry an estimated $300 million a year.
"The present system, cumbersome and inefficient in many ways, can be streamlined with electronic commu-nication," Arthur Woelfle, president of Kraft, Inc. has stated. He is co-chairman of the UCS Joint Industry Committee with Leonard Lieberman,
senior vice president of Supermarkets General Corporation "As an exam-ple," says Woelfle, "purchase orders, invoices, and other transactions between grocery manufacturers, brokers, and distributors will now be transmitted by computer rather than by mail, personal delivery, or phone."
The entire process, as Woelfle notes, will be reduced to a conversa-tion between two computers. One computer places an order; I he other processes it. This eliminates the time consuming and often inaccurate pro-cedures in between.
"The new system also provides bet-ter management information," he adds, "and it will lead us to produc-
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